Little children, yet a little while I am with
you
Christ having removed the scandal of his death, by observing,
that both he and his Father would be glorified by it, begins more
freely to open his mind to his disciples, and acquaint them with
it; whom he addresses in the most kind, tender, and affectionate
manner, "little children", expressing the relation which
subsisted between them, of which he was not unmindful; his great
affection for them, his consideration of their weakness, and
sympathy with them on that account; who were very ill able to
bear his departure, which he now thought high time to acquaint
them with, that it would be very shortly: it was but a little
while he was to be with them, a few days more; the time of his
departure was at hand, his hour was as it were come, and the last
sands were dropping:
ye shall seek me;
as persons in distress, under great concern, not knowing what to
do, or where to go:
and as I said unto the Jews,
( John 7:33
John 7:34 ) ;
whither I go ye cannot come, so now I say unto
you;
but with this difference, whereas the unbelieving Jews, who died
in their sins, could never come whither he went, these his
disciples, though they could not come now, yet they should
hereafter, all of them, as well as Peter, ( John 13:36 ) .